This blog is dedicated to providing updates on the New York Islanders arena situation.

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January 27, 2013

Who is to Blame for the Isles Leaving Nassau County?

Now that we are several months past the announcement that the Islanders are leaving Nassau, I think it is a good time to examine who is to blame. For me the answer is simple and the blame is squarely on the shoulders of the Long Island politicians.

The demise of the franchise was set into motion by Al D'Amato. The former New York Senator was the person that created the worse professional lease between the Islanders, Nassau, and SMG, which put the team in a terrible financial situation. This lease made it impossible for the Islanders to compete in the modern sport climate by giving 2/3 of the teams revenues generated from the arena away to SMG and the county. There is even a story out their that D'Amato gave the Lighthouse the evil eye, since Wang wouldn't hire his brother.

Thomas Suozzi the former Nassau County Executive also played a role in the demise of the Islanders in their birthplace. Mr. Suozzi had a plan called 90/10 where he wanted to keep 90% percent of Nassau the same and develop the other 10% to jump start the economy. This is where the Islanders come in. Suozzi saw the Hub where the Islanders are located as part of the 10% and saw a mega development as away to get the Isles a new arena without having the county to pay for it. In theory this is all great, but he made one fatal flaw. Before setting his plan in motion he never checked with the Town of Hempstead who controls the zoning to determine what would be an acceptable size for the project. Not involving the Town of Hempstead on the ground level of this idea was a huge mistake all Islander fans saw play out.

We all know what Kate Murray did. She single handily turned down a 4 billion dollar investment by Charles Wang to jump start the local economy and build the Isles a new arena at the same time. What some people might not know was that Wang tried to reach out to her during the planning stage of the Lighthouse to understand what he can build. She denied his request, because she viewed herself as a judge on the project. Instead of working with a man who wants to put 4 billion dollars into her town and county she turned her back on him. She also created a zoning that didn't that the feasibility of the developer making money with an arena part of it and then said it is the final zoning. Great job there!

Jay Jacobs the man who stood in the way of the last ditch effort to keep the Islanders in Nassau. He started a scare campaign against the referendum to build the Isles a new home. He called people to tell them if they let this pass their taxes would be raised and that is unacceptable. One thing you left out Mr. Jacob if the Islanders leave their taxes are going be raised and higher than the $15 that it would of cost them to build the arena. His great alternative plan that he was forced to give during an interview with Mike Francesa on WFAN was personal seating licenses. However he said after his victory over the referendum he will be working on alternative ideas to keep the Islanders. Great job on that alternative idea.

Ed Mangano is the man who is going have the Islanders leaving Nassau County on his record, but he is possibly the lease responsible. He was given the arena problem with nearly no time left on the clock with one hand tied behind his back, since NIFA controlled the county's spending. Sadly he couldn't come up with a plan to save the team, but he did try a Hail Mary with the referendum that if it passed would put pressure on NIFA to seriously consider spending money on an arena. Sadly it failed and he had little to no other options to save the team.

All of these politicians failure led to the Islanders leaving their birthplace Nassau County, which by all means people can and should be upset about. However, people shouldn't be upset about Brooklyn or the Barclays Center, since it was the only option for us to keep or team in New York.